Polysilanes have been used in a variety of industries.
Vapor deposition of silicon-containing films using polysilanes is disclosed by JP Pat No 3,185,817 to Seiko Epson Corp.; Kanoh et al., Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Part 1: Regular Papers, Short Notes & Review Papers 1993, 32(6A), 2613-2619; JP Pat No 3,484,815 to Showa Denko KK; and JP Pat App Pub No 2000/031066 to Showa Denko KK, among others.
US Pat App Pub No 2010/0184268 A1 claims a method for producing a semiconductor device comprising: coating the coating composition for forming an oxide film comprising: a polysilazane and a polysilane on a substrate and forming the oxide film inside the groove by heat treatment in an oxidizing atmosphere. The formulas of polysilazane (SiH2NH)n (n—positive integer) and polysilane SinR2n+2 and SinR2n (n≥3, R—hydrogen) are mentioned only in embodiment.
Epitaxial Si-containing films, such as Si, SiGe, SiC, SiN, and SiO, have been grown using polysilanes as disclosed by Hazbun et al., Journal of Crystal Growth 2016, 444, 21-27; US Pat App Pub No 2017/018427 to Yi-Chiau Huang et al.; US Pat App Pub No 2016/126093 to Dube et al.; and Hart et al., Thin Solid Films 2016, 604, 23-27]; among others.
Polysilanes have been used as inks for printed electronics as disclosed by US Pat App Pub No 2009/0269559 to Lee et al.; PCT Pub No WO 2015/085980 to Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH; US Pat App Pub No 2010/197102 to Akao et al.; and JP Pat No 6,191,821 to Showa Denko KK; among others.
Polysilanes have also been used as high specific energy fuels as disclosed by Simone et al., Journal of Propulsion and Power 2006, 22, 1006-1011; and Hidding et al., Journal of Propulsion and Power 2006, 22, 786-789], among others.
Conversion of lower silanes into higher silanes has been studied extensively both for research and for commercial purposes. Catalytic reactions have been studied. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,569 to Berris; Corey et al., Organometallics, 1991, 10, 924-930; Boudjouk et al., J. Chem. Soc. Chem. Comm. 1991 245-246; U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,719 to Tilley et al.; Woo et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1992, 114, 7047-7055; Ohshita et al., Organometallics 1994 13, 5002-5012; Bourg et al., Organometallics, 1995, 14, 564-566; Bourg et al., Organometallics 1995, 14, 564-566; U.S. Pat. No. 5,700,400 to Ikai et al.; Woo et al., Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. Sci. Technol., Sect. A, 2000, 349, 87; Rosenberg et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2001, 123, 5120-5121; Fontaine et al., Organometallics 2002, 21, 401-408; Kim et al., Organometallics 2002, 21, 2796; Corey et al., Adv. In Org. Chem. 2004, 51, pp. 1-52; Fontaine et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 8786-8794; U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2008/085373 to Karshtedt et al.; Itazaki et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2009, 48, 3313-3316; PCT Pub No WO2010/003729 to Evonik Degussa GMBH; Smith et al., Organometallics 2010, 29, 6527-6533; PCT Pub No WO2012/001180 to SPAWNT PRIVAT S.A.R.L; PCT Pub No WO2013/019208 to Kovio, Inc.; Feigl et al., Chem. Eur. J. 2013, 19, 12526-12536; Tanabe et al., Organometallics 2013, 32, 1037-1043; U.S. Pat. No. 8,709,369 to Brausch et al.; Schmidt et al., Dalton Trans. 2014, 43, 10816-10827; and U.S. Pat. No. 9,567,228 to Matsushita et al.
All these disclosures notwithstanding, commercial use of polysilanes remains elusive.